Lorraine Rowley Thompson collection on Benson family

Richard Benson (1816-1895)

L. Tom Perry Special Collections is pleased to announce the availability of a new digitized collection: Lorraine Rowley Thompson collection on Benson family (MSS 8555).  This collection contains journals and correspondence related to the Richard and Phoebe Benson family. Includes journals kept by Richard during his Mormon missions to England, and letters he wrote to his wife Phoebe. Includes Phoebe’s correspondence with Richard regarding his second mission to England, and a journal of family history information. Includes two journals of Alvin Benson that he kept during his service in the California Mission and a letter from his uncle, James Kay. Also included are records related to Alexander and Jane Orton, Alvin’s in-laws, and several letters from unidentified relatives. Dated 1842-1965.

Phoebe Forrester Benson (1820-1904)

Richard Benson (1816-1895) was born on March 29, 1816, in Wrightington, England to Thomas Benson and Margaret Marsden. He was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1837 by Elder Heber C. Kimball. Richard served his first mission in Newcastle, England from approximately 1841 to 1842, where he baptized forty-seven people including his future wife Phoebe Forrester. Phoebe Benson (1820-1904) was born Phoebe Forrester on August 25, 1820, in Crossings, England to Joseph Forester and Elizabeth Forester. She was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in October 1840. After his mission Richard traveled to Nauvoo, Illinois to be with the main body of the church. In 1844 he returned to England and married Phoebe on June 20, 1844, in Cheshire, England, and in 1845 they returned to Nauvoo. They traveled with the saints to Salt Lake City in approximately 1850, and they settled in Parowan, Utah, where they had the last of their nine children. They are Thomas, Joseph, Richard Heber, Sarah, Phoebe Madora, William, Elizabeth, Alvin, and James. Then in 1866 Richard was called to serve his second mission in England, which he did from 1866 to 1868. After his mission he became a buisnessman in Parowan, Utah. Richard died on August 2, 1895, in Parowan, Utah. Phoebe Benson died on June 25, 1904, in Parowan, Utah.